*** Home has been Sold! ***
Pat Bukovy one of our readers has a small house on the market and asked me to share it with you. Although selling homes is not part of this blog, it is something I may develop in the future if there is a demand for this service.
It has taken me awhile as there has been much going on in the tiny house world of late. So I apologize to Pat for taking so long to show it to you. I’ll let Pat tell you about her home.
I have lived in a small house (1 BR/ 1 Bath / 1.5 stories) for 23 years and it worked fine for me.
I took the square footage of each room, added them together and came up with around 769 sq ft. There’s a connected utility room that I did not include nor the garage. The deck is about 20′ by 22′. The lot size is 30′ x 125′.
The first floor has three rooms. The first one off the entrance I’ve converted to a home office, the middle one is the living/dining (knotty pine pictures) and the room before the back exit is the kitchen. The bathroom is downstairs also. Upstairs is a 13 x 7 sitting room (I use it for a sewing room) and then the bedroom.
It’s very pet friendly — dog door, no grass in the backyard, with a dog run and fenced yard. I’ve made up for the lack of grass with tons of potted flowers. It’s a quiet neighborhood — near O’Hare.
Harwood Heights and Norridge create an island surrounded by the city of Chicago. It’s a town of about 8000 and they’re creating a ‘downtown Harwood Heights’ (whoo-hoo!) that will be near the house. They just built a beautiful new library (eisenhowerlibrary.org) which is two blocks from my house. The Village Hall and Police Dept are in close proximity too.
I don’t have a basement so it has never flooded (and we had some bad flooding here a month ago). I have a one car garage that looks like a 2 car garage from the outside that the extra room serves as storage for me.
I have it on the market for $195,000. I don’t know where you’re at but empty lots in my neighborhood are going for $200-$300k. Zillow has it estimated at $280k or so. You can contact Pat for more information at pat@bukovy.com
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This house is absolutely beautiful. I hope whoever buys it continues to take good care of it and keeps it in such lovely condition.
What a lovely little home. Can you tell us why she’s moving?
Hi, it’s me, Pat. Seller of this house. Thanks for your comments. I was getting depressed for awhile since all the realtors are treating me like I have the plague! “Your house is cute, but it’s sooo small!” That’s when I figured there must be other people in this world with small homes (and happy) and searched the web and found Kent’s blog! Thank you!
Why am I selling? I have a bad hip. Six hip replacements and 17 surgeries on the same hip. About 2 years ago I got a staph infection that almost caused me to lose my leg. I didn’t, but I figured as I get older, my leg definitely won’t get better. I will not be able to make the steps. I’m finding it more difficult to do the yard work, snow shoveling, etc. In addition, our offices moved to about 25 miles from where they were and I’m sitting in Chicago traffic for an hour each way — on a good day.
I found a nice townhome 6 blocks from work, near my elderly mother and near all my doctors. With the housing market the way it is, it’s not the best time to be doing this, but I made the commitment last April and just hope it’ll all work out. Thanks!
that’s a great trunk/coffee table.
Beautiful small home. I am not in the market for a new home, but that is adorable. It is also well kept. I think that people need to tour a small home to see, that it really isn’t so small. Nice size home for a single person or a couple.
Pat-
Yep the greed head realtors/home builders/developers/bankers are always pushing people to buy more than they need or can afford and that mindset has helped give us the “financial crisis” we are in now. People living beyond their needs/means is about to blow up in all of our faces regardless of if we participated or not. This looks like a cute place and I wish you the best in health and in your move. I hope to have a small place I can call my own someday. The right person or couple will come along and appreciate your beautiful home for all that it is and represents.
Sophia
Beautiful home, inside and out. As Sophia said, the right buyer will come along. A couple thoughts: maybe find a different realtor? If all they can see is “it’s sooo small” well, there might be someone out there who could do a better job for you. FSBO might be more work than you want to take on yourself, but it’s a possibility also.
Also, there is a woman, Genevieve Ferraro, who has posted in the Small House Society Forum about her website, The Jewel Box Home. Her site is all about living well in small homes, and she resides in the Chicago area. (You can Google her site—not sure I should post a link in the comments.) You can email her at The Jewel Box Home. Might be worth contacting her—-who knows? She might know someone, who knows another someone for whom your house would be perfect. 🙂
I think posting listings for tiny houses for sale would be awesome.
I, for one, will be making the tiny house move in a year or so. But, I’ve not had much luck in finding out if any are for sale. I first have to unload the money pit I currently have.
Tiny houses are awesome and I can’t wait until I have one of my own.
Deb
Update from Pat:
Thanks for the lead on Genevieve Ferraro, I found her website and will email her today!
Regarding the realtors: I initally contacted three. My brother’s a mortgage broker so he was able to give me an insight on to 3 who were ‘producers’ (had sales under their belts). Realtor #1’s voice literally heaved a sigh when I said it was a 1BR-1bath. She came out anyway, was pleasant, gave me a market analysis via email and never followed up. Realtor #2 was a young girl – said she had never even seen a one bedroom home and was pleasantly surprised! She liked it so much she thought it would be perfect for herself (it would have) but she could not afford it. Realtor #3 (who I’m signed up with) is trying to do the best she can with what people are looking for. I’ve been actively marketing the home myself — I figure 2 heads are better than one!
I truly believe I will find someone who will be a perfect match for this house. And, the more I come into contact with people like you, my beliefs are reaffirmed.
I’ll keep you all posted. Pat
I sold the house! The seventh person to see it, thought it was just perfect for her. She wanted to close by the end of April — and she was so excited about owning her own home — that I moved out before my new place was ready. So as it stands now, I’m homeless and I’m staying with a friend (and my two dogs!).
There was absolutely no activity during the winter months but once there was a contract pending on this one, I must’ve had a half dozen other inquires. Looks like things are getting brighter in the housing industry.
Regarding the townhouse I’m moving in to: that too halted last fall, the developer went bankrupt but on the same day I got the offer on this house, the new builder called to say he got financing to complete the project. Thanks for all your positive comments. –Pat
Hi Pat – Thanks for the update. So glad you were able to sell it even in these down times. Hope your new home works out for you…Kent
Hey Pat,
You have a very Beautiful home. One of my friend was looking out for a house but its sad that this house is already sold. She missed out on a such a
Beautiful home. Thanks for the update.
I love everything about this tiny house! Thanks for sharing with all of us.